BATIM: Memory's Twisted Lane

Chapter 1

I stop my car in front of the main steps leading to the studio doors. I remember watching those cartoons when I was younger, since four years old. I loved watching Bendy. He was my favourite cartoon character in the world. As far as I was concerned, no other compared to him.

I look down at the passenger seat and stare at the old Bendy plush toy. After all these years, I still own it. It was the last present my dad ever gave me before he vanished. I was only six. Since then, I've kept it by my side as a reminder that my dad will come home.

I feel a tear welling up in my eye. The past three years, I've come to realise that he won't come home. He's dead. No one knows where he is, where his body is. I've brought the stuffed toy with me so I can find out what happened to my dad, leave it at his desk, and say my final goodbyes.

I inhale deeply and remind myself to stay strong. I look into the rear-view mirror. My brown eyes are just darker auburn hair. A tear runs down my cheek, dampening my pale skin.

I take the plush toy with me as I enter the studio, hiding it in the pocket of my black hoodie. Just through the doors, I can see a "Little Devil Darlin'" poster on the wall to my left, and a poster on the wall to my right that says, "The Dancing Demon." Further down the hall I see a "Sheep Songs" poster with Boris the Wolf holding a trumpet.

I venture down the halls into an open room. I take in everything, the "Joey Drew Studios" logo on the wall, the projector, and a Bendy cutout leaning against the wall beyond it.

I go left and find a desk with concept art of Bendy on it. On each sheet of paper, I find the initials, "H.S." my dad's signature. I see a small paper that stands out from the others. It's Bendy, but his smile is different. It's not the toothy, somewhat disturbing grin I've grown to love. It's a rather small, cute smile. There's a post-it note covering a corner of the sketch that says "no."

"This must have been a rejected concept.." I say to myself.

Behind me is an extension to the hall, where several other desks stand abandoned. I assume the desks belonged to the newer animators because they have a more advanced design; the models are younger than the first desk.

I return to the front room a notice that the projector is running. I stop and stare at it in confusion. The studio's been abandoned for five decades. For one thing, it's by some miracle that the projector even works today. It's a model from 1954. The oldest model that still works dates back to the eighties. I take a photo of the projector with my phone and continue to explore the studio.

As I walk down the hallway, I notice some text on the wall. "Dreams come true" is what it says. Believing it to be a piece of evidence, I take a photo of it and move on.

I continue walking down the hallway until I come to another open room. There's a railing separating me from a large hole in the floor with chains hanging over it. I notice that the chains are connected to a pulley and a switch. I pull the switch and hear the pulley system screeching painfully into motion, perhaps for the first time in fifty years.

I watch in astonishment as the chains lift a large machine out of the depths. I remember this machine. Uncle Joey always told me stories about Bendy when I visited him, and this machine was involved in the story. I recognize the design from a picture Uncle Joey used to show me.

Uncle Joey always called it the Ink Machine.